My very first memory of Final Fantasy was renting Final Fantasy 2 (now 4) for the Super NES. for a year or two I had watched my cousin play RPGs (Dragon Warrior 2 for the NES, also much later on I caught a glimpse of him playing the original Lunar for Sega CD, which got me into that series) and I had decided to finally give RPGs a go. I remember when I first got the game immediately getting stuck at the mist dragon. Only later on when my cousin came over did he show me that I had to wait to attack him. My excuse was that I was very young ;)

Later on that same video store that I rented FF 2 from sold it, and I was lucky enough to buy it before anyone else snatched it up. I remember my parents taking me to some dinner party, and the whole time I just immersed myself in the instruction booklet, going over all the spells and reading about the characters and their special moves over and over again. I only wish I could get so wrapped up in a game these days.

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I would take my copy of Final Fantasy 2 over to my cousins' house every day after school and we would take turns playing it. The younger of my cousins was only like four or five at the time, and he pretty much learned to read by watching us play that game. We'd take our time and let him read a wall of text before we moved on to the next part of a conversation. I have a feeling he was the only person in his kindergarten class who could pronounce paladin. :P

That same cousin years later named Gau BUFALO when they bought Final Fantasy 3. I've always assumed he was going for buffalo but ran out of room. That shit still trips me out at the thought of it.

FF4 - I was too young to remember the day he bought it, but I remember my brother playing it, and which bosses were a pain in the ass (yup, four fiends being one of them). I remember how much he loved the music, particularly the overworld (for this and even moreso for Terra's theme in....).

FF6 - My bro got it Christmas Day and didn't open any other gift beceause he ran downstairs to start it up. I basically watched him play through all of it, I was...about 6 or 7 at the time, so when I played it, it was his file and to go to towns (I didn't like fighting!).

FF7 - we rented a PSX back when you could rent systems from Rogers Video (now, both renting and Rogers Video are even services). It was stunning. That opening FMV~. They didn't give us a memory card, so we played till we died; which was the first Reno fight where he can trap you in death-pyramids (yeaa, we didn't know how to break free).

FF1 - we played this at my mum's goddaughters house of all places. Ah...beep beeep beep beppb eepb bepbepbep (the opening theme). They had the weirdest fucking games. Some Disneyland one, Dick Tracy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit...etc.

FF10 - came out around Christmas holidays. It didn't stick with us because it was so cheesy. I took it up a few months later, and oddly, ten titles later, it was the first FF I actually beat on my own. The ones before I completed with some Game Shark code (I was young, sue me).

FF7 - we rented a PSX back when you could rent systems from Rogers Video (now, both renting and Rogers Video are even services). It was stunning. That opening FMV~. They didn't give us a memory card, so we played till we died; which was the first Reno fight where he can trap you in death-pyramids (yeaa, we didn't know how to break free).

Yeah, I'll admit I got a couple of game overs from that gimmick my first time through as well. At least by the second Turks fight I figured out how to cheese the game with Seal Evil (such a ridiculously good limit break but obviously one you don't get to use past the first disk).

The first FF game I ever saw was FFIV, back when I was in 6th grade. My buddy rented it from blockbuster, and he came over to spend the night a few days later. I watched him play the entire Lunar Subterain and beat the game (or get killed Zeromus, I can't remember). Then he had me start my own game from the beginning and I played the first few hours. Loved the airships!

Later, in middle school, another friend got FFVI. I wasn't as interested in that at the time, because it was darker, and didn't have airships at the beginning.

Funny, since, much later, I played all the games in the series (didn't beat 1-3, never played 2), and now think that FFVI is VASTLY superior to FFIV, which I now find pretty obnoxious. Still, good memories.

FF6 - My bro got it Christmas Day and didn't open any other gift beceause he ran downstairs to start it up. I basically watched him play through all of it, I was...about 6 or 7 at the time, so when I played it, it was his file and to go to towns (I didn't like fighting!).

This is adorable.But on a related note, I remember that first play-through of VII when I was really young, I'd get lost for significant chunks of time and just enjoy myself exploring the world and towns. That childlike naivete made the series that much better (but I guess it makes everything better, really). I don't like to think of myself as jaded, but...

I forgot where it came from, maybe PSX magaxine jampacks or something. But I used to play D&D w/ my older cousins (I was like 11 or 10 and they were in their 20s. It was super sweet hanging w/ them and they'd give me booze) and we'd game some PSX before starting the campaign. Someone popped in the FF7 demo one time and we were all stunned and convinced ourselves that games would never look better!

FFVI, when I rented the SNES cart I didn't start a new game the first time. Instead I started off with an existing save which was either on the Floating Continent or early in the World of Ruin, I forget which. Needless to say going up the Fanatics' Tower was not fun (before I discovered Moogle Charm). VI was how I first learned to abuse walkthroughs and FAQs, haha.

VII came out in September or something but I didn't get it until Christmas. I was planning to save up to buy it (allowance etc.) and a PSX but I ended up getting a PSX for my birthday and FF7 for Christmas (three days later). My friend and I would constantly play together (or rather, taking turns doing so) until we fell asleep. =P

And then I played all of X at Mike's house, using that gigantic strategy guide to do all the extra side shit. I must have put almost 140 hours in... and my Yuna was like, illegally strong. One hit kills on bosses.

I remember getting FFVI back in '94 and it cost like 85 dollars at the time. I wasn't really an Rpg fanatic at the time but i liked Shining Force. A review in EGM convinced me that I HAD to play it so I did. I played that fucker religiously for a LONG time. I was blown away by everything about it. I also finished it thinking an esper was permanently attached to a character once equipped:/ It's basically my favorite game of all time. VII VIII and X really impressed me as well but it was never quite the same.

FF6 - My bro got it Christmas Day and didn't open any other gift beceause he ran downstairs to start it up. I basically watched him play through all of it, I was...about 6 or 7 at the time, so when I played it, it was his file and to go to towns (I didn't like fighting!).

. That childlike naivete made the series that much better (but I guess it makes everything better, really). I don't like to think of myself as jaded, but...

This is so true.. sometimes it really makes me sad to think I will never feel the excitement and joy I found in games, and really in many other things in life, as I did when I was younger :(

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FF6 - My bro got it Christmas Day and didn't open any other gift beceause he ran downstairs to start it up. I basically watched him play through all of it, I was...about 6 or 7 at the time, so when I played it, it was his file and to go to towns (I didn't like fighting!).

. That childlike naivete made the series that much better (but I guess it makes everything better, really). I don't like to think of myself as jaded, but...

This is so true.. sometimes it really makes me sad to think I will never feel the excitement and joy I found in games, and really in many other things in life, as I did when I was younger :(

My problem was that I was already seeing the cracks back when I first took up FFVII and got annoyed at how everything was tied to Materia, weapons and armor were mere afterthoughts, and the only defining feature to each character was their limit breaks. VIII only exacerbated the problem by removing equipment altogether and having that stupid Disk 4 business where you can't go anywhere but towards the endgame (and endgame sidequests). IX in comparison was a definite step in the right direction where you had 8 unique party members and a number of events where the narrative followed more than just the main character (even if only the first continent was the only one that was really populated and that drat Disk 4 issue reared its ugly head again). And finally FFX was a game that only had me asking how were you actually supposed to stop a force of nature like Sin with just a Meg Ryan lookalike and his crew (since VI's couldn't be stopped, VII used a force of nature against a force of nature, and IV, V, Tactics, VIII, and IX had only to deal with overpowered douche bags) and then I played it and found out that bad writing was the solution. Also the sphere grid was cute but it had no fucking clue as to what it was doing given how A) linear it was, B) overpowered it made you, C) non-negotiable it was to navigate it (i.e. you had to burn one sphere level to advance one space forward or like up to five spaces back), and D) sparse it was in anything but stat boosters.

First FF was one of my first console games too. I got the SNES for Christmas, played Super Mario world and Legend of Zelda, Link to the Past. The first game I chose myself was FF4 which I rented, then bought because it just captivated me. I played through that obsessively and pretty much did everything possible.

I ran out to look for the next FF and got FF: Mystic Quest which was the only other FF for the SNES at the time. It was also fun but very disappointing after the massive game that was FF4 - I was finished it in a weekend!

FFVI came out a year or so later and I was gleeful to play that. I ended up carefully managing my Espers so that Terra and Celes got magic stats levelled up every level, so by the end of the game, they were magic wielding monsters. I did the same with Locke and Setzer and ended up with a party that could wipe bosses in one turn.

I dithered on getting FF7 because the Playstation was expensive. Eventually I rented a PS and FF7 and one of the two was broken - it wouldn't go past the train scene. They didn't have any other copies so I kinda stewed over getting the PS for a long time. I finally got it, but the train scene made me nervous every time I started a play through. I still kinda expect it to get stuck there! I also remember fighting Emerald Weapon and accidently having Yuffie's Materia giving her 7777 HP. She pretty much soloed Emmy for hours (she was only doing 1000 points of damage a turn). Weirded win ever.

FFXI-the 1st time i saw my elvaan female monk character do "Raging Fists" i came. and resolved myself to lvl up to lvl 75 and get asuran fists wich i did. my actual 1st experience with final fantasy was thr ff8 demo on an opm demo disc.when i saw dat leviathan i also had a braingasm then boght FF7 a week later. when iwas younger a friend tried to get me into FF4 and 6 but it looked like crap to me compared to phantasy star and shining force.

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“Normal is not something to aspire to, it's something to get away from.”